Play Along
by wadapoku
Summary: Broken up with by her childhood love, she had drastically changed. Sakura shut down all affection towards men and turned love into a game. Senior year, she meets her match when her attention was caught by a charming new student. Playboy and playgirl, in this new game who will be the winner?
1. Chapter 1

So, I have a new story! This one is going to be (hopefully) better than the other one since I already have decided on the ending, though I just don't know how to get there just yet :D

I assure you that this one is less dragging, or long and depressing as Mannequin.

Sakura is actually more fun in this one because she starts off being a bitchy party girl. Haha well hope you enjoy.

* * *

"There is a point in everybody's life when you are consumed in bitterness. This is not an assumption, this is the truth."

* * *

**Play Along**

**Chapter One**

"Thank you for the ride, Daichi, you know how much I _adore _your new car," she said looking up to the flustered male sitting on the driver's seat of the Honda. It wasn't much of a luxury vehicle, however it looked decent enough to say that the owner had spent a good amount of money to purchase the newest model. Sakura batted her lashes for the last time before gracefully hopping out of Daichi's car. He rolled the window down from the passenger side just so he can get a last glance of the pink-haired girl and waved at her. She flashed him the fakest smile, her emerald eyes did not even bother meeting his dark orbs before turning away and walking up the steps to her apartment.

She shrugged as she leaned her front door shut. Another day was done, she was finally alone. No more need to wear that mask that he has been wearing for almost a year. Her eyes landed on the piece of paper laid on the coffee table at the center of her living room.

_Probably another note saying my parents won't be coming home again tonight, _she thought. After letting out another heavy breath, she pushed herself away from the wooden door and made her way to her bedroom.

It was a Friday and there was no homework. Not for her, at least. It's not that she really kept track since there was a dozen of guys that would kill just to be the one to help her with her assignments. She dropped her pink Louis Vuitton school bag on the ground and let body fall on her bed and fished her phone out of her jean pocket.

"Ino," her voice was slightly turbulent, from being alone she has almost forgotten about sugar coating herself, even for her best friend. "What's happening tonight?"

"Billboard brow," Sakura could tell that the speaker grinned at this, "There's going to be one at eight somewhere by Tanzaku, you down?"

"Of course I am," she tried as much as she could to sound excited. "Pick me up? Or do I need to get a ride?"

There was a short pause before her best friend responded. "Shika offered me a ride, I'll see if I can get you as well."

"I'm sure he'll do whatever you say, anyways," Sakura grinned and hung up. She shot a glance at her wall clock. _Five thirty five. _Sighing, she stripped down to her under garments and headed to her walk-in closet.

Her wardrobe was organized according to color but she noticed that the number of her black clothes were increasing. A slight smirk formed against her lips before she pranced to the darkest corner of her closet.

Black is the most mysterious color of all. It represents fear and negativity. It also denotes strength and authority. It's considered very formal, elegant and prestigious.

But in heraldry, this shade is the symbol of grief.

Sakura hopped into the shower after pulling out what she was going to wear to the party tonight. She decided on a strappy black dress that hugged her body at the right places. It showed off her slender back and legs quite well. Alongside the dress, she prepared a small Chanel purse of the same shade. Crimson velvet heels accompanied the whole outfit.

Sakura wasn't really excited to go to the party in reality. She just preferred not to be left in her own thoughts, alone in her little room, so she'd rather go out with people she would call her friends and carry on with her fake smiles and empty promises.

Ino ended up picking her up anyways, an hour later than the agreed time, as usual. The clicking of Ino's heels increased when she saw Sakura come out of her apartment. The blonde was wearing a tight, purple blouse that showed her navel, then a low-cut black mini skirt and pumps a similar shade. Her pearly whites were almost glowing as she smiled towards the pink head. Sakura felt proud to have Ino as a best friend for a lot of reasons. But right now, it was mainly because she was sure that when they entered the building, all eyes would be on them.

And she was right. It was as if the music in the room had stopped just to verify their arrival. Shikamaru stood behind them but eventually found his friends Chouji and Kiba and made his way to them. Sakura and Ino were approached by guys from every corner of the room and were offered drinks right away. Sakura could recognize some of the guests were from school, but noticed that there were folks from other towns too.

"Would you ladies want to drink with us at our table?," an older looking man with shoulder length blonde hair offered, the stench of strong alcohol emanating from his breath. Ino immediately shook her head, mouthing a "no" but Sakura tilted her head to the side and nodded.

"Sakura are you crazy?! He looks like he's thrity!," Ino let out in a squeak.

"It's fine. Don't worry. I definitely know what a pedophile is when I see one." Flipping her petal colored hair, she turned and walked over to the table consisting of grungy older men.

"Alright, whatever," Ino shrugged and headed to Shikamaru's group and asked for shots.

She took another shot of the transparent liquid that was laid in front of her on the crystal table. Her new acquaintances cheered her on, knowing that they might have a chance to take advantage of this young girl if she overdid it. Unbeknownst to their knowledge, this young girl was planning something as well. And they were falling right into her trap.

"So what do you do exactly, Prince Blondie?," she said teasingly with a smile. Giving men nicknames always worked when she wanted them around her finger. The said man chuckled, obviously amused by the teenage girl's eccentricity. His eyes even widened a little more when she took a stick of a cigarette from the table, lit it expertly and puffed smoke directly to his face.

_She's a bad one,_ he thought. Oh, he has _no idea._

"I'm a manager of a cigarette company. I would have punished you for taking one of mine, but I get them for free, so I guess I can let you slip this time, darling." The last word gave her goosebumps but she masked her disgust with a smile.

"Cigarettes, eh?," she sighed.

"_I heard that Asuma-sensei was a chain smoker," she said, her grip on her P.E. Uniform tightened while catching up to a certain guy._

"_Hn," was all he said before pushing the heavy double doors of the school gym. _

_She chuckled nervously. "It's kind of funny that he's into smoking since he's a varsity coach, neh, Sasuke-kun?"_

"_It's an addicting habit," he simply said with shut eyes. "Some people start doing it, thinking that they can stop it by command. But it's harder than they think."_

_A smile escaped her lips as she thought orally. "I have an addicting habit."_

_The boy with spiky onyx hair raised a brow, slightly curious now of what his companion was speaking about. The said girl neared him and blushed._

"_Liking Sasuke-kun!," she squealed, and with that she ran away._

"Interesting," she pouted cutely, then leaned over to Blondie. "Can I have a whole pack?"

The man examined her and looked a little too excited. Sakura crossed her legs and waited, as if she was getting bored from him taking too long. Since he didn't want her to leave he had to give in, he thought.

"Alright, follow me to my car, I have a ream for ya," he stood and Sakura followed him to the door.

_I'm not that stupid, old geezer._

Sakura called Ino and motioned to come with her and bring Shikamaru, Neji and Chouji as well. They went towards the blonde man's car.

"Here you go, babe," the blonde huffed and got closer to her. Sakura first took the box of expensive cigars then held up her hand in front of her, stopping him from his advancements. Just before he attempted to do anything more, he heard footsteps approaching. Sakura let out a smirk and turned to her friends.

"Look what I got for us guys!," she jumped and skipped to the crowd, they took her in and left the old man utterly disappointed.

* * *

"Ino, wake up," Sakura growled, and so did her stomach. "I'm fucking starving."

The night went on without her getting too drunk. She knows- very well - what stupidity in her behalf might occur if she lost control. No way she was going to let herself drunk dial her ex again, though his number is deleted, she hated herself for knowing it by heart. No way she was going to break down in front of strangers, cursing the same person in the most unimaginable ways possible. There was no way she could lose her cool anymore.

She gave away her number to some potential "toys" that she met in the party. Later on, Ino said that she was too tired from all the dancing and wanted to go home. Right when they arrived at Ino's house she passed out in the couch and Sakura had to carry Ino-pig all the way to her bed.

And now, there she was, staring down at her best friend who was still snoring on her queen sized bed. The blonde slept soundly with makeup smudged all over her face. Ino was in her underwear, they both were. Looking at how grungy Ino looked made her think about how horrible she probably her own appearance was as well. She gave up on waking her unreliable best friend and trudged to the bathroom.

Sakura straightened her posture and put her "game face" on before going through the contact list on her phone.

"Hello Atshushi... yeah, it's Sakura... Mhmm... What are you doing? … Oh yeah?"

Almost losing her patience on the overjoyed man that she was speaking with on the phone, she cut him off politely and popped the question.

"Listen, I'm at Ino's right now and I'm starving, wanna go get something to eat?"

The man sounded ecstatic about the fact that she technically asked him out. He let out a laugh and said he will be there in five minutes.

_Pretty darn fast, _she smirked. _Stupid guys._

Ino was still asleep when he came, so Sakura decided to just go. She slipped back into her party outfit and hopped into the guy's car. Atsushi was a college student she met a couple months ago. He seemed to like her a lot and she took advantage of that fact, just like she did with every other guy.

* * *

To Sakura, all guys were just the same. They were horny, pathetic creatures that will pay for everything, make you like them, then love them and then fuck you, screw your life over and when they get bored, abandon you and leave you broken. That is why she has decided not to let anybody in her life anymore, she has built a wall, a facade, a pretense that would get her by through the day.

She sat and watched the talkative man speak in front of her. She would nod randomly just to pretend that she was listening to his _interesting _story. He took her to a fancy sushi restaurant, and she already knew what she wanted.

_The most expensive one._

The friendly waitress handed them the menus. She flipped the pages boredly, skipping the appetizers then skimmed through the prices of the entree's. Her eyes landed on thehighest number and she pointed at it, stating "I want that" to the waitress and asked for a tea.

She didn't even know what kind of food she ordered was._ "That's alright,"_ she said to herself. "_It must taste good._

_ It should,"_ she sneered.

* * *

It was Monday again, another dreadful day she had to endure. Her empty eyes gazed at the window and noticed the droplets of rain then shot a glance at her clock. She had about an hour to prepare for school.

Next on the list of her morning routine was to check her cellphone. _Twelve messages. _She replied to some, and ignored most, then asked if she could get a ride from a couple.

More than one guy offered to give her a ride. She didn't really care who she'd pick, just as long as she didn't have to walk a mile to Konoha High. She replied "yes" to one and jumped off the small but comfortable bed.

"Good thing I got you in advance," she sung as she hugged her black Louis Vuitton rain boots affectionately. "I mean, I got Aki to get them, but whatever..." she trailed off.

The sound of rain was calming, but something inside her felt depressed.

_The two freshmen stood under the safety of their school building's roof, neither of them expecting that a storm was coming and worse during their dismissal time. Onyx gazed down at her apple green eyes before the beholder sighed. He stripped off his school jacket and handed it to her._

"_Use this Sakura, I'll be going now."_

_Sakura blinked, barely taking in what he just had said. He offered her his jacket so that she can use it as a shield against the pouring rain. _

_The moment she tried to run after him, he was gone._

_Snap the fuck out of it! _Forcing her now aching head up, she continued to look for a "decent" outfit. _Or the opposite. Doesn't matter._

Roku Lee's already bulgy eyes seemed like they were at the verge of popping out when Sakura slid herself into his truck. She clicked on the seat belt and flashed him one of _those smiles_. "Morning, Lee."

"Ohayo, Sakura! You look," he gulped, out of words to describe how seductive she looked. His eyes traveled down from her lined eyes, her smooth skin, and the white shirt she had on, slightly wet, showing off her black bra underneath. Her jeans had tiny rips but were all at the spots where one would be left with something to imagine. "Youthful," he continued, picked up his jaw and started driving.

When she entered the school hallways she was immediately greeted with hugs, and how-do-you-do's which she returned casually. Her eyes roamed around to look for Ino, which wasn't so hard to do since her best friend stood out just as well as she did. There she was, standing in the middle of a crowd of students of her class- Seniors.

This was Sakura's everyday life in school, the same thing, over and over. Once in a while something interesting would happen, but not interesting enough to sweep her off her feet. It was a day-long masquerade where she had to laugh, smile, flirt and do anything in her ability to look okay. Empty? Sure she was, but she didn't really care. She stopped caring about a lot of things. Especially men. If she had to choose between loving a man or being fed to cannibals, she would choose the latter.

Men were merely just toys to her. They were tools to give her what she wanted. Nothing more, nothing less.

"What's up, Sakura-chan!," a blonde hair, blue-eyed teen approached her and locked her into a hug. She waited a couple of seconds and shifted away from his grasp. She shot him a last look and returned his greeting before standing next to Ino.

"So did you guys hear the news?!," Ino stomped her feet erratically. "There's a bunch of transfer students coming today!"

"Yeah, I heard some were still seniors and some were already in college," Tenten, a girl with long brown hair stated. "That means some will be coming here, and some will be going to the college building."

"That's alright, we'll see all of them during break time," Ino snickered and glanced at Sakura's outfit. "I love your boots!"

Sakura gave a small smile, knowing that everybody's attention were on the said shoes. "Thanks, they're new."

"Maybe we can finally find us some handsome boyfriends," Ino teased, her eyes at Tenten then at Sakura.

Sakura just shrugged. It didn't matter to her. "Sure," was all she said.

However, she meant the total opposite. There was no way in hell that she would be in a relationship ever again. Ever. After what a man–boy– named Sasuke did to her, she has definitely verified her hate for men in general. Though she hasn't told anybody yet, because she didn't want them to worry. She thought that having them fix her would be quite annoying when she was doing just fine this way. She was anything but broken.

* * *

:3333 soo?

Sasori is not even here. – _ – but he will be on the next chapter!

Yeah I know it's not that interesting yet. You guys probably think it's just like any other getting over Sasuke bastard and meeting a nice guy Sasori kind of fic.. but NOOOO I PROMISE YOU NOOOOO xD

And I promise you it will be good. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Here, is the new chapter. I hope it is satisfactory. I am hoping that you like it. By the way, thank you for the reviews :]

* * *

_"Stressed. Depressed. But Well Dressed."_

* * *

**Play Along**

**Chapter 2**

She plopped herself down in her seat next to the window at the second to the last row of her Homeroom class. As usual, the teacher was nowhere to be found. During this time, most students would go to where their friends were and gossip. Some would do unfinished work for upcoming classes and some would bring out their gadgets such as cellphones, PSP's or iPods. Sakura, since she had really no interest in socializing so early in the morning, preferably sat alone and mind her own business.

"How was your weekend, Sakura-chan?," she heard someone say, breaking her silent reverie. Jun was scratching his head like he barely got out of bed.

She did the best that she could to keep her composure and let out a half smile. She tilted her head up a bit to look at him.

"As usual."

Another person approached and greeted Jun then turned over to her. "Ken," She nodded in acknowledgment, but really just wanted to use this time to admire the pouring rain, the crystal drops of liquid violently crashing to the earth. She turned her head back to the window.

"Usual, meaning you went out to party, neh, Sakura-chan?"

She nearly cringed at the term of endearment used, but just shrugged.

"Yeah, pretty much," she forced to be a bit more cheerful but ended up sounding sarcastic.

"Why don't you ever invite us? We'd be down to party with you, Sakura-chan!," Jun yakked. He then started talking about his favorite brands of alcohol and how he could bring some of his boys if she wanted him to.

The teacher walked in and everybody scurried their way back to their proper seats. Some of the students muttered a "Good morning Hayate-sensei," which he returned with a dry cough.

After letting out a few more coughs, the said teacher cleared his throat which caught the attention of the entire class once again.

"Class 4-B, I have an announcement to make."

Cough.

"We have a new transfer student attending this class as of today. His previous school was Suna Private Academy."

The students began murmuring about how Suna Private Academy was incredibly expensive and was only for geniuses and that it was really hard to get into. Some of the girls were getting excited since the student coming was going to be a guy.

She jeered. "_A guy."_

The murmuring grew louder when the transfer student stepped inside the room. The girls swooned. Some of them wouldn't stop shifting from their seats, "whispering" across the room about how _hot _he is. Some flipped open their compact, some fixed their hair. Some tried to contain themselves but were blushing insanely.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"My name is Akasuna Sasori. Nice to meet you, please treat me well."

Though she had to admit, this guy was quite a catch. She examined him from head to toe. His hair was a dark shade of red. It gave the impression that he hopped out of bed and didn't bother to style it, but somehow, it still looked attractive. His height was shorter than average, probably just a couple inches taller than her. He had bright, brown eyes, a perfectly sculpted nose and a pretty boy smile. He wore black converse, dark jeans and a white hoodie. He seemed to be a charming kind of guy.

He studied the room. The class was way bigger than what he had in Suna, and it looked like the majority of students were from the middle class. His eyes then landed on the pink haired girl sitting at the back with glossy lips pulled into a smirk. The redhead smiled.

"Now then, take an available seat so I can include you in my logbook," Hayate instructed. Sasori walked slowly and calmly to the back of the class, right behind Sakura.

Sakura shifted about on her seat uncomfortably. _It seems like he's boring holes into my body. Why did he have to take the seat behind me?!_

* * *

_I'm gonna be late!_ Sakura gasped as she stood up and started sprinting down the stairs.

She lost track of time during lunch and had to run. After her traditional makeup retouch session in the girls' restrooms with Ino, Sakura decided to spend the rest of the break at the only peaceful place in Konoha High – the rooftop.

"It's not raining anymore," she sighed in relief.

It was a restricted area, but she would go there anyways. _Nobody really checked and if I got caught I can always just jump down_, she once said. The memory made her chuckle bitterly.

She was never really the type who would stay alone on top of rooftops and sulk. In fact, she wasn't the person who discovered such a place. She found the place when she had followed a person that she used to know there.

"_What do you need?," he asked. "Why did you follow me? Go back inside."_

_She cringed at this and bit her lip. "Anou, Sasuke-kun," she timidly looked up at him. Slowly, she reached for a box from her backpack and offered it to him with both hands. "I never see you eat during lunch and–"_

"_Thank you," he said, cutting her off, taking the food and turning away. She smiled nonetheless._

That place is nothing now but a run down area where she can look at the clueless people from above or look up at the sky, whichever she felt like doing, as long as she could be away from everybody for a while, not for too long however, for the memories will resurface.

Just long enough until she can pace herself to be the Sakura-chan everybody wants once again.

Sakura was relieved to find out that Hayato-sensei haven't arrived in Art yet. She made her way inside and sat next to Sai, the top student in the class. To her surprise, new guy, Sasori was there as well, standing in the middle of a legion of girls who mostly weren't even _in_ that class. He seemed to be most welcoming about it since he even had one arm wrapped on a girl's shoulder and the other taking all of their numbers into his phone.

She took this as a challenge. He shouldn't be paying attention to other girls while she's in the room. All of the guys would pick her over them, _anytime_. She stood up and made her way to the redhead. As she walked, the big crowd parted like the Red Sea. She stood right in front of him and flashed him a sweet smile.

_I'll show him. _

"Haruno Sakura," was all she said, her eyes met his while extending her hand gracefully.

He gently took her hand in his and instead of shaking it, he gave it a kiss, causing some of the girls in the room to squeal. He put her hand down and leaned closer.

"Sasori."

She was pleased by the fact that she did catch his attention. Letting out a soft giggle, she rested a hand on her waist. "Nice to meet you, Sasori."

_Impressive_, he thought. It was fascinating that this girl merely chuckled at his gesture. Given if it was any other, she would have cried or fainted. She wasn't even nervous at all. He smirked in amusement.

His eyes traveled all over her body before looking back into her eyes before getting caught. "The pleasure is all mine."

"Saying is one thing, doing is another," she playfully mumbled, then snickered. _He was checking me out._

"Alright Haruno, new guy. Enough flirting for now, today we are going to learn about sculptures!," A voice from behind interrupted. It was Yamato-sensei, finally present.

_I almost had a heart attack to see him right behind us,ogling. Man, that teacher is creepy!_

* * *

After the long period of art class, Sakura will finally be done for the school day. It will be five minutes until the last bell rang and everybody in class were done with their work. She previously made an engagement with Sai to work on their class project after school.

"Sai!," she called, bothering him while scribbling on his notebook.

He sighed. "I know Sakura. I'll pick you up in the parking lot in ten minutes."

This caught Sasori's attention. He pretended not to listen to the conversation between the pinkhead and the paleface.

"Why in ten?," she asked, a bit of anxiety in her tone.

He shrugged. "I just have to do something real quick for art club."

"Better not keep me waiting for long," she whined. Sai tonelessly muttered a "yes" and headed off. Walking out of the classroom, Sakura noticed that Sasori was being bombarded again by an army of girls from all levels, they were surrounding him like vultures. She shook her head. _Poor guy._

Sakura started stepping away from the scene and made her way to her locker when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to check who it was.

"Oh hello," she chirped. "Where did your fan club go?"

Sasori chuckled and leaned against the locker next to hers. "You're the one to talk, you're the rage all year round," he pointed his head towards the direction of the group of juniors that were bidding her goodbye.

As they walked towards the exits, students gaped in admiration. Most greeted them, some introduced themselves to Sasori, some bowed their heads, and a few glared.

They finally reached the parking lots where Sakura was supposed to wait for Sai. Sasori asked if she'd be okay then pretty much left her alone when she said that she would. Right after him disappearing from Sakura's sight, a heavy rain started falling down from the sky.

"Chikusho!,"Sakura clicked her tongue then wrapped her rain jacket around her purse. _ My notebooks are going to get wet!_

The cold rain slowly ran down her face. Smoke came out of her mouth as she slowly breathed. She looked up at the gloomy sky and smiled. Somehow this feeling was comforting, it was like the tiny droplets of moisture were there to bond with her, then when she had thought about it, she wasn't really so alone.

Sai appeared and unlocked his car then the duo finally headed out. He earned a punch in the gut for having her wait and she said that if she gets sick he will pay for all the hospital bills.

* * *

The Next Morning

Sasori arrived at school right on time. His locker exploded with a landslide of millions of love letters, chocolates and other sorts of trinkets that he almost fell. He merely smiled at this then entered homeroom. Half of the class wasn't there yet and were going to come by the second bell, he presumed. He decided to gaze upon the gray storm cloud that looked like it was about to pour out any second.

_Oh, that's right._

He snickered.

_I left right before it rained hard yesterday. I wonder if she got wet._

_And why did she have to go home with that Sai guy anyway? Don't tell me he's her–_

"-sori. Akasuna Sasori?," Hayate-sensei repeated impatiently. He had called his name for three times already. The red head found himself pondering deeply and long enough that he didn't even hear the tardy bell.

"Present."

Sasori's eyes landed on the unoccupied seat in front of him. _She's not here._

"Haruno Sakura?" Hayate announced, mixed with a cough. Inaudible footsteps from the hallway grew louder and faster before the door swung open, revealing a panting Sakura.

"Present," she gulped and took a little more air into her system before stepping to her seat.

"Not much of a morning person?," Sasori teased.

She sighed. "I'd say an answer to a postcard," she turned her head, flashing him an exasperated facial expression. "I had to run to school!"

"Where's Sai to give you a ride?"

The pink haired girl raised a brow. "Excuse me?"

"That guy who looks like a corpse that you had to wait for yesterday."

"He's not my boyfriend," she giggled while waving an arm in front of her. "We had an art project due and we agreed on working on it together!"

"Aah, I see," he leaned closer to her and rested his head on his palm. "You're single then."

Sakura just chuckled. "Nani, why are you asking this?"

"A party." He then took a piece of paper and started scribbling. "On friday, for the newcomers. I don't know if you've already heard about it from the mobile invites but," he handed the piece of parchment to her. It had an address and number.

"I wasn't going to invite that Sai that's why."

* * *

"Neh, Ino," Sakura was holding a pair of denim shorts on each hand, one a little shorter than the other but was a little looser, while the other was a tad bit longer but would probably make her look curvier. Ino and Sakura decided to go shopping with their friend Hinata after school.

"Hm," Ino acknowledged while fixing her boobs under a dress she had tried on.

"Do you know about the party they were having for the new guys?"

Ino twirled around in front of the full size mirror and struck a pose. "Yeah, I got the invite on my phone yesterday. Did you, Hinata?"

The girl with long black hair shook her head sideways. She was covering herself consciously while slipping into a blouse, regretting to agree going into the same dressing room as Ino and Sakura.

"I don't think Sasori wants to invite taken girls," Sakura shrugged. "And since Hinata is dating Naruto..."

"Yeah. Wait! – " Ino approached her best friend and pointed to the zipper behind her back. "You know one of them?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, he's in my homeroom, English and Art."

The blonde's jaw dropped. "What?!"

Sakura was admiring the reflection on the mirror while holding a pose. "So should we go?"

The duo pondered for a while before smiling slyly.

"Why not?"

* * *

What do you guys think? Just a little spoiler: Deidara is going to be here too : I love me some Dei-chan X)) cant wait cant wait!


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you guys for reviews~ I will keep them all in mind and answer your questions as much as I could!

About the ending, I already have planned it :D Of course I cannot tell you about it yet, you will have to see for yourselves ^.^

About the other Akatsuki being there, well in the first chapter, the transfer students I was talking about was them but I'm not sure if they will all be as active in the story as Deidara. :) He will be in this chapter!

Saaaa~ It's against my policy to keep you waiting so long so, let's go~ Oh, wait another thing! If it's not too much to ask of you guys, if you are a member please write me some reviews when signed in X) because I love seeing the number go up. Hehehe well if you can only, any sort of review is appreciated though -love, love- and also, I enabled private messaging!.. still iffy about it but, at least now I can reply to you guys and answer your questions and all that... just hoping no flames would come to burn me... .

* * *

_"You love hurting people,_

_Dont you?"_

* * *

**Play Along**

**Chapter 3**

Five minutes before the bell rang, Hayate wrapped the lesson up with a quick announcement.

"Don't forget that book reports are due on Thursday."

Majority of the class gasped and whined. Sakura was one of them. She bowed her head in dismay.

"Shit."

Hayate then walked to the back of the class and approached Sakura's seat. After letting out a dry cough, he asked, "Haruno, would you kindly fill in Akasuna with the info about the report? It's worth a lot of points."

She frowned as her head felt heavier. "Do I have a choice?"

"Not really," he grinned. "Well, do your best!"

Sakura cursed again, under her breath before facing the smirking redhead.

"What's the matter, Haruno?"

She sloppily stood up and shoved her things in her bag. "I totally forgot about it. I don't even know how I'm gonna help you."

"We can find a way," he tilted his head to the side smugly. "Let's work on it tonight."

"Sure," Sakura flung her purse on her shoulder and stepped towards him, stopping just a few inches away from his lips.

"Your place, or mine?"

Sasori's smirk widened into a grin. "Mine."

* * *

The day went by faster than usual. Sakura spent her lunch in the cafeteria with her friends instead of the rooftop since it was drizzling outside. Cheer practice was canceled by Ino since the gyms were going to be taken by the varsity teams, so it was moved to the next week. Sakura didn't really care about Ino stealing the spotlight of being the cheer captain because being that means you would have to commit, and that was something she didn't want. Besides, she and Ino usually are in charge of the choreography, and they pretty much get to do whatever they want.

She looked forward to Art class with more anticipation than usual because of two things – her project with Sai was amazing and guaranteed the best ever made, and also because there she can flirt with her newest possible prospect. Her eyes scanned the room for a certain redhead she has unconsciously been thinking about all day. Unfortunately, before she could do any further searching, she was approached by her partner, who dragged her over to their project to complete it.

"It's missing your signature," Sai muttered as he handed her the paintbrush. Sakura sighed and started scribbling on the board where the sculpture was. It was a hand-painted white tiger, realistically detailed and posed as if it was crouching. Every other student gazed in awe, because Sakura and Sai's work was exceptional compared to the mediocre flower pots, stick figures, teapots and such the other students made. They praised the duo and told them that they were to get an A+. Sakura was certain that she would get a exemplary grade for this as well, and was even happier of the fact that Sai did almost all the work. She didn't care, why would she? At least she helped out mixing paints for him, fetched him some water from time to time and kept him company, right?

After all, what could she do if she really wanted to help?

Sakura inwardly sighed. "Not much, that's for sure."

The class' attention was suddenly stolen by a scream of an unfamiliar voice coming from outside. "Danna!," the person kept yelling, then the door slid open. Sasori came in with a frown on his face and walked straight to his seat. Promptly, a golden haired boy with an abominable resemblance with Ino barged into the room. The students were no less surprised as Sakura. "He must be related to her or something," she thought.

The said man approached Sasori and sat next to him. "I'm sorry!," he pleaded, and made even more of a scene.

"You made me late, Deidara," the redhead spat. "This is exactly what happens when someone is late." Following what Sasori was pointing out with his eyes Deidara realized that the whole class was tentatively staring at them. He straightened his posture and scratched his head.

"Heh, Hello everyone," blue eyes narrowed as he grinned. "My name's Deidara. I'm new, and I'm in this class too. Sorry."

The class murmured for a short while before settling down and going back to their own business. Sakura, being done with her project, straightened out her red blouse and came up at the two latecomers.

"Don't be so hard on him now," she said melodiously to Sasori before sitting right on top his table. "You may be five minutes late," she crossed her legs, "...but the teacher isn't here yet anyways."

His frown turned into a smirk as his amber eyes met hers. Sakura winked playfully then turned to the blonde and extended a hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Haruno Sakura."

"Deidara," he grabbed her hand firmly. "You're hot."

Sakura just chuckled and made her way back to Sai, leaving Sasori and Deidara staring at each other, as if they were reading each others thoughts. Deidara was the first to smile when Sasori nodded slowly.

"She coming to the party right?," Deidara leaned closer to Sasori, asking discreetly.

"Yeah, her and her other friends."

* * *

"Nice place you got," Sakura said as her heels clicked on his hardwood floor. "You live here all by yourself?"

His apartment was spacious but was arranged cooridinately with modern fixtures. He had a huge entertainment system, and most of the furniture were black. He had a bar by the kitchen area and a dining room fit for two. It was dimly lit and lacked windows, emanating a gloomy vibe.

Sasori nodded at this and motioned to follow him to his bedroom. Sakura took a last look around the place before scurrying behind.

* * *

_"Nothing. Is. Going. On."_

Sakura thought that working on a project with Sasori would be just like with the others. She assumed that he was going to do all the work while she sat beside him helplessly. For a second, when he took his laptop and put it on the bed she thought that was the case but she was wrong. So wrong.

"Akasuna," she whined his name for the nth time. "I don't think I can do this anymore!"

She was laying on her back on the queen sized bed with a pen and a stack of papers in her hand. She dropped the pile and rolled over to the opposite side, where he was.

Batting her eyelashes, she continued. "I don't know what to write, can you help me?"

The redhead just stared at her from head to toe, causing her to inwardly blush. She was so close to him, and on his bed! But she had to push her luck. Maybe this time he will help her.

"Besides, you haven't even done anything yet! And you're the one that's behind," she pointed out his computer and the game that he was playing.

He shot her a glance. "Why are you so afraid of failure, Haruno?"

"What?" her eyes widened as she gulped. He shook his head mouthing a "nothing".

"Who's your favorite character?," he muttered, eyes not even leaving the screen while he continued playing.

Sakura whined but answered nonetheless. "Hatsumomo."

He nodded once and went back to his game. "Why?"

"Because I feel like she's been very misunderstood," staring at the ceiling, Sakura gathered all her thoughts. "Because I can understand why she would burn the okiya. I understand why she acted that way. "

Her eyes focused on him for a split second, checking if he was paying attention to what she was saying. Fortunately, he wasn't. Apparently, he was concentrating on building more towers to produce mechanical soldiers to infiltrate his enemy's base.

She continued nonetheless.

"When Mrs. Nitta denied her the okiya- her last hope of finding somewhere she belong, her world crumbled. She was hurt, she had no hopes left. Even her lover Koichi said to her, that being with her was degrading. Everyone just saw her as the ill-mannered bitch, no one bothered to see within. Even the guy who fucks her. I don't even think he would be willing to take care of her. However, she was in love. Was it so bad that she did everything she could to keep Koichi? Was it so bad that she had hoped that maybe love will prevail in the end?"

Sasori was listening now, oblivious of the fact that the enemy was already infiltrating his territory. Sakura in the other hand was oblivious as well that she now had an audience.

"Everyone wanted her for her body, just for that."

Sakura sat up, reached for her papers and started scribbling.

"Thanks."

* * *

The day of the deadline came. Though she ended up getting a B for her report, she was pretty glad to get a grade from her own hard work.

So it's been a while since she actually worked on a project herself. However, despite her denial she enjoyed it. Yes, it was a pain doing it alone, but there was something about his company that she found somehow comforting. Perhaps it was because he wasn't like the others that would do just anything to get in her pants. Or perhaps he reminded her of somebody that she used to love in the past.

"I need a smoke," she sighed to herself. "Whym'I even thinking of such foolish things."

"Good job, Akasuna," Hayate-sensei praised after handing Sasori his work. Sakura turned around to see what was going on. "He didn't even work on it at all," she thought. Much to her surprise he even got an "A".

"May I help you, Haruno?," was all he said before shoving the graded stack of papers into his backpack.

Sakura ground her teeth. "How did you? You weren't even... You didn't even care!"

He smirked.

"Oh, you probably had one of your fangirls to do it," she hissed and turned back around.

Suddenly, hot breath brushed against her neck, giving her goosebumps. The hot air traveled up to her ear.

"I am not like you, little angel."

All of a sudden, his warmth was gone. She turned her head to where he was, still lingering in his presence, but there he was sitting straight in his seat, with a curious look on his perfect face as if nothing had happened.

* * *

Sakura told her best friend about the new guy in her Art class that resembled her and Ino wouldn't shut up about it for the entire recess. They were in the girls' bathroom having their daily touch up and were heading to the cafeteria to meet up with Hinata and Tenten.

Though her bestfriend entertained her with her smart remarks and interesting stories, her mind was elsewhere. She couldn't stop wondering what Sasori meant and was amused by the fact that he actually might have paid some thought on her. She was enjoying the fact that she has a new potential "toy". Somehow, though she hated to admit, he stood out to her more than the others, but she has yet to figure out why. Probably because he was more attractive than her usuals, or because he had this mysterious, charming character.

"But I shouldn't really care," she kept repeating in her head, convincing herself that she should not let him deceive her, because guys, no matter what, definitely are all the same.

Saving her from her reverie, Chouji came at them with a huge tray of sugar cookies and truffles. His tiny eyes lit up at the sight of Ino and he immediately smiled. "Good afternoon Ino-chan, Sakura-chan, I made these for cooking class!" the chubby fellow addressed.

Ino crossed her arms and frowned. "Chouji!," she snapped. "Why?! WHY did you have to show me these tempting balls of ...toxins!"

Sakura chuckled at this and pat the now sullen Chouji on the shoulder. "Don't worry, she's just miserable because she thinks a tiny chocolate can make her fat and ruin her diet." She grabbed a truffle and shoved it in her mouth.

"Sadly, it's true," Ino whined, tearing up at the sight of her best friend enjoying the sweet delicacy. "I can't indulge, but Sakura can, 'cause she needs a little more meat right here," the blonde pointed at her Sakura's chest, "and here!," she pointed to her butt.

Chouji and Ino burst in laughter. "Very funny," steam came out of Sakura's nose as she took the tray from Chouji's hands and ran away with it. "This is all mine now!"

Ino and Chouji ran behind, chasing her but she made her way smoothly across the halls. She stopped until she found a less crowded area by the South Wing.

* * *

He buttoned up his shirt right on time – ten minutes before the bell. He was about to head out before the only other person in the dark classroom grabbed him from behind.

"Sasori," the girl murmured into his ear before she pressed her bare chest against him. " Tell me that we'll go all the way at the party."

He tore away from her grip and turned the doorknob. "I can't promise you that, Erika," he said, and with that last remark he walked out.

* * *

"Danna, I finally found you," Deidara said after letting out a heavy breath. "Where did you go? They were wondering why you didn't come today."

Sasori smirked at his friend. "I was having playtime."

"Ah," the blonde chuckled and gave him a pat in the back as they both made their way to their class. This time, they were'nt going to be late.

"Whoa!," Sakura exclaimed, stopping right in front of Deidara and almost dropping the tray and its contents on the floor. "Hey guys!"

Ino appeared and grabbed her best friend from behind. "Sakura, we're not letting you get away-"

There was a moment of silence before Sakura figured out what caused the shocked expression on her best friend's face. She chuckled and shook her head. "Ino, meet Deidara. Deidara, this is Ino."

Ino's mouth formed the shape of an "o" before she started jumping up and down, rapidly. She then ran up to him and gave him a big hug.

"TWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIN!," she squealed. "Twin twin twin twin twin! Oh my God this is so COOL!"

She pulled away and looked him in the eye. "We should totally, like, be friends! What do you say?"

Deidara looked confused but flashed her a crooked smile. "Sure, why not. Hmm."

"Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God," she locked him in another embrace and started bouncing once again, unintentionally rubbing her breasts on her new found friend.

"I can get used to this," Deidara's smirk widened.

Sakura went to Sasori's side and offered him a chocolate which he took gladly. The bell finally rang and they all headed to class.

* * *

For the people who didn't really know what Sakura was saying about the book report: Sakura's book report was for the book Memoirs of a Geisha. Hatsumomo is pretty much the antagonist in that story. There is a movie, which I'm pretty sure most people know about. I never read the book btw, lol.

The crouching Tiger piece of art that Sai made is inspired by the newest episode of the anime. Who else thinks Sai is cool? lol ~~~

Ino and Deichan are happy twins! Like Len and Rin LOL ~.~ hahaha :3

I'm still thinking about having fluff or not for the next chapter. Why don't you guys help me decide? eh eh eh x)

The next chapter will have a little little yuri by the way :o


	4. Chapter 4

Hello guys, so sorry for the late update... I'm falling so far behind because I lost internet until now I don't have it. I'm at the library with my laptop right now and uploading this chapter real quick. I hope that it is somehow worth your wait, however :D

* * *

_"I'm Sorry._

_I'm not what you wanted."_

* * *

**Play Along **

**Chapter 4**

_(The Day of The Party)_

Finally, it was the weekend. Sakura and the rest of Konoha High was looking forward to this. Sakura was all dolled up and waiting to be picked up by Ino, or whoever is taking Ino to the party to be exact. She glared at the clock, upset about how perpetually late her best friend must be.

She took a last glance at her figure in the mirror and made sure that everything was in place. She wore a black semi-sheer sleeveless dress that was cut out at the back. A small belt hugged her waist tightly and the short skirt flared a little higher than it should. Her heels were metallic pink and was six inches high. Her waist length hair was let down in a rather messy manner.

"Open Sesame biotch!," she heard from outside her door. A smile graced her lips as she rushed down the stairs and stepped out of her house.

Ino glomped her best friend and giggled. Sakura smelled the scent of alcohol on her breath. "Ino, you're drinking already?!"

"I have more in the car baby!," the blonde cheered as they headed to the vehicle Ino shoved a half-emptied bottle of Bacardi to Sakura while they drove off to the venue. Sakura took a swig of the liquor and mouthed the lyrics of the loud song that was booming on the stereo. The duo started having their own little party in the back seat. Kiba and Shikamaru could only shake their heads at these girls, but enjoyed their bubbly company nonetheless.

They arrived at the party two hours late. Partly because the location was pretty far but mainly because Shikamaru had to drive carefully since he had two drunk girls at the back of his car.

Sakura and Ino entered the spacious house. It was packed with people, mostly from their school. They walked towards the living room where the music was the loudest. A mirror ball was placed at the center of the ceiling and there were about fifty people dancing under it. Ino dragged Sakura on top of a table and started gyrating and rubbing her butt against her best friend. All kinds of looks were thrown at them but they didn't really care. Sakura's lips pulled into a smirk and she started dancing as well.

Soon, and as expected, the duo was approached by several guys who offered them a drink. They followed them to the bar where all the bottles of alcoholic drinks were. After a couple of shots, they were back in the dance floor, moving even wilder than before. Sasori was still nowhere to be found.

_Maybe he didn't come._

"Ino," Sakura giggled, "I need to rest."

Trying to regain her balance, Ino nodded and stumbled her way out of the living room. Catching up to Sakura, she took another drink from a passerby. She noticed that Sakura was now standing in a corner, motionless in place.

"Forehead-chan," she hiccuped, "Why are you standing there like a wallflower? What's wrong with you?!"

Sakura smiled and put a finger in front of her lips. "Ashush-shhh," she shushed and hug best friend by the neck. She then slowly took Ino's cheek in her palm then turned to the direction she was previously looking.

"You see that?," Sakura whispered, pushing the blonde's head up and down, motioning a nod. Ino squinted and focused her eyes on the scene. It was Sasori sitting on a couch with a beer bottle in his hand and Erika was beside him. It seems like she was trying to say something to him but he wasn't paying attention. This made Sakura chuckle then drag Ino to where he was.

"My, my Ino, isn't it just hot in here?," she said before sitting herself down between Erika and Sasori then turning her attention to him. "I'm thirsty."

Taking in the flustered look on her face and her messy hair, he replied with a smile and handed her his drink. "You can have my beer."

"Sakura, but I want to keep dancing though," Ino crashed her body against Sakura, sitting on top of her then smiled at Sasori. Sakura grabbed her best friend, groping her around the waist.

"You can give me a lap dance right here," Sakura murmured, licking the tip of the bottle that was now empty. Ino then started bouncing up and down Sakura's lap and moved her hips, wiggling it from every direction. The duo laughed so hard that Sakura's head ended up falling on to Sasori's lap. He didn't seem to mind since he didn't push her away. As a matter of fact, he even leaned back on to the seat to watch more of the show.

Sasori nearly choked on his drink when he found Ino crawling up to her best friend and crashing her lips against hers.

There were two girls - absolutely appealing girls, making out on his lap. His smile widened when Sakura grabbed Ino's ass and tangled a leg with one of hers. He just wished that the girls would not get closer to his now hardened... ego.

"Holy Jashin, Sasori." A man white silver hair popped in the scene and stood behind Sasori. "You lucky mother."

Deidara started rushing to where the man was, having heard Sasori's name. "Danna!," he called and immediately dropped his jaw when he saw what was going on. "Oh, that is great."

Sasori just looked at his friends and smirked. "What do you want, Hidan, Deidara? As you can see I'm a little busy."

Ino tore apart from Sakura and shot her head up at the sound of Deidara's name. "My twin is here?!," she got up from the couch and swaggered her way to him. "Twiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnn!"

Deidara squeezed her into a hug. "Whats up twin, hmm."

"I have a loooooot to tell you, twin!," she then dragged Deidara and walked over to the bar, Hidan followed behind them, leaving Sakura and Sasori alone.

Sasori let out a sigh about Deidara's arrival ruining his show. He took a beer from somebody that offered and looked around. He barely just noticed that Erika was now gone, which means he can get on to the next one.

"Haruno," he pat on her head, she was still laying on him with eyes closed, lips pulled into a smile.

"Haruno," he repeated. This time she twisted and turned to the side, mumbling inaudible words. She put a hand on his leg, next to her face and started snoozing.

"Oh great," Sasori wasn't sure if he was peeved or amused, but he kind of enjoyed the sight of the pretty girl sleeping on his lap, looking more helpless than ever. He can do anything he wanted with her right now. _But what fun would it be if she was asleep?_

The red haired boy decided not to go for what he was thinking and carried her into an empty room to rest until her friends took her home.

* * *

The party was the second most talked about topic in school on Monday. Almost all of the seniors couldn't stop boasting about how they met the new kids and how cool they were, or how they met so many college girls from another school, or how they got laid, how high they were, how much drinks they had –

" – and on our part, Sakura and I were so drunk that we kissed!," Ino laughed, "Can you believe that?!"

Naruto's eyes rolled while Hinata turned red and gasped. "Not again," they said in unison, but with different tones. One wasn't as surprised as the other.

Sakura laid her salad down and took a seat. "It's true," she nodded and giggled. "It was so crazy!"

The laughing subsided as they all started munching on their lunch. Ino, however haven't touched a thing. She bit her lip before slamming her hands on the table, shocking Sakura, Naruto and Hinata.

"I have another confession to make," Ino murmured as she balled her hands into fists.

"Shikamaru asked me to prom."

Yup, prom was the _first_ most talked about issue in Konoha High School. It was weeks away and the school council were already selling out tickets like pancakes. Streamers and posters about it were plastered all over the walls and hallways, reminding students that it was coming soon. Now was about the time when taken girls start shopping for a perfect dress and pester their parents to give them money for a limo and permission to be out all night. When single guys start scavenging for hot dates; and when single girls pretend not to care about being dateless and say that they are okay with "going" with their friends.

"Hinata-chan and I are going to wear orange so don't take that color Ino," Naruto stuck out his tongue.

Ino returned the gesture. "I will never wear orange for my senior prom, seriously Hinata how can you agree with this?"

"I- I love-" Hinata twiddled fingers and began hyperventilating.

"– You love Naruto I get it," Ino spat, finishing the sentence for her.

Naruto faced Sakura and rested his head on his palm. "Sakura-chan are you going?!"

"No." Not a second has passed before Sakura came with a reply.

"But Sakura-chan!," Naruto whined, with puppy dog eyes. Ino scooted her seat closer to her best friend and took her by her shoulders.

"Sakura! You're nominated as prom queen! You have to go!"

"No," she repeated simply and stood up.

"It's not too late to get you a date!"

"No," was her only answer after every argument they threw at her. Simply and coldly, until she walked away.

_That's not the reason I am going at all._

_Foolish Ino. I have more guys that asked me to prom than I can handle. _

_Daichi, Atshushi, Lee, Kentaro, Ruki, guys from the party..._

_I could go with any one I wanted._

_But, I denied them all._

* * *

"Not you, too," she ruffled her pink hair, agitated about the whole prom thing that was going on today.

Sasori eyed her. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm not asking you to prom, I'm just asking if you're going."

This rude comment hit a nerve, but amused her at the same time. It was somewhat new that a guy would say that to her. Normally they'd just jump her like hungry wolves. All she could do was smirk and meet his gaze.

He leaned in to her and rested his head on his palms. "You're so anti-romantic."

All she could do was chuckle.

"Well, you're still invited to the afterparty."

Sakura came closer as well and nodded. "I'll think about it."

* * *

Ever since "prom season" has resurfaced, Sakura haven't been able to get a decent rest. Nights have been longer than ever since she couldn't stop the flashbacks. She would spend the whole night frustrated at the memories that haunt her and would be desperate for it to stop. Every morning at school she was more tired than ever and used most of the time in class to fall asleep.

The moment she starts dozing off is when the music starts – the sound of the slow acoustic guitar playing clearly in her head. She can still smell the scent of his cologne, feel the fabric of his jacket, and see the look in his eyes.

"_And for first year Homecoming Princess," the voice in the microphone excitedly announced before a drum roll, "Haruno Sakura!"_

"_And to crown our princess, the Homecoming King, Uchiha Sasuke!"_

_The crowd cheered at the couple as the spotlight focused on them. Sakura rushed to the stage to go to Sasuke. Tears streamed down her eyes as she shivered. _

"_And now, our Homecoming Royalty Dance!"_

_The lights dimmed and Sasuke accompanied her to the dance floor. He took her hands as they swayed. They danced slowly until their bodies got closer. She could barely keep her composure as she took a glance of his face. He was as calm as ever._

"I hate that fucking song," Sakura growled under her breath and sat up from her lying position. She then tossed her pillow and started kicking her blankets off her legs. She banged her head on the wall four times.

"Fuck."

Giving up on sleep, she decided to stand up and flick the light switch on. The time on the clock was three in the morning. She pulled her phone out of her purse.

Calling Ino at this hour would be absurd. It was a Tuesday. She might be partying on the weekend but she makes up for sleep on weeknights. There's also cheer practice tomorrow, she really needs the rest. Besides, what would calling her do to help? Ino has been clueless of the fact that Sakura has been having these issues about Sasuke all this time.

"Let's see," she went through the hundreds of names in her contact list. "Who could be awake at this time..."

Her finger stopped scrolling at his name, unsure if she should give it a shot. Shrugging, she decided that calling him could be worth the try.

As expected, he picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Sasori," Sakura mumbled. She could hear faint sounds of music and voices in the background. He probably was in a party. She was about to speak when a girl's voice interrupted her.

"Who's that?," she heard the voice say.

"Sorry, I called at the wrong time," with that, she hung up. She didn't want to be bothering him and giving him problems.

_To think about it, I never really asked him if he had a girlfriend._

To her surprise, her phone rang and notified her of a text message. It was from Sasori.

"_What's going on?"_

She sighed and started typing a reply.

"_Nothing."_

After a few seconds, he responded.

"_Ok."_

Sakura sat by her window and gazed at the sky. The stars were bright and so was the full moon. Not a lot of clouds were visible too. The lights were dimmed in the houses that surround her. She couldn't help but be jealous of people who were able to sleep right now. Foolishly, she thought, that maybe if a shooting star came and she wished for slumber that it would come.

So she sat there and waited, until her phone rang again and surprised her. This time it was a call.

"Yes?"

"Nice PJ's."

Sakura blushed. "What?!"

"Look down."

Her eyes widened at the sight. Outside her house, there was Sasori sitting in a motorcycle and waving at her with his helmet. She waved back. It wasn't too long until she realized that he was seeing her in her nightgown and it wasn't much.

"Perv. What are you doing here?," she giggled.

"Just come out. I hate to be kept waiting."

She sighed. "Alright, let me just put something on."

Sakura ended the call and pulled her curtains. She then stripped off her nightgown and slipped into a long sleeve shirt, a pair of denim shorts and boots. She carefully crept out of her house, making sure that her parents wouldn't hear and hopped into his bike.

* * *

"Someone isn't wearing makeup," Sasori teased, making her agitated and cover her face. He took her to his apartment, where he had guests. She can tell by the sounds coming from inside.

"Don't look at me! Asshole!," she turned away but he caught her arms and slowly pulled them out of her face. He laughed at her determination, but she was too weak to fight.

He smiled as he thought to himself. _Aside from those horrible eye bags, I think she looks pretty without makeup anyways._

Deidara opened the door for them and the two were exposed in the awkward position. "Yo, you guys can make out in here too, hmm!"

Sasori and Sakura joined the group in the living room. He introduced her to his friends that were playing a video game. Deidara was holding a toy guitar, Konan was holding another, Hidan was behind some electric drums, and Pein was holding a microphone.

"Sasori," Konan groaned, "Finally, you're back! I can't play guitar for my life. Here," she handed the toy to him and seated herself next to Pein.

Sakura stood there and observed in silence. The girl's voice on the phone was Konan's. Why was she so sensitive about him having a girlfriend anyways?

"How foolish," she sighed to herself, and sat on the next available seat. The doorbell rang and Deidara gave his guitar to her and opened the door.

"The pizza's here, guys!," He grabbed cash from his pocket and shoved it to the delivery boy.

"What difficulty is Deidara playing in?," Sakura inquired while adjusting the straps of her instrument.

"That's right," Hidan gasped, "Change the difficulty for Sakura-chan, guys, it's on expert!"

Sakura chuckled at this and pressed "play". "It's fine, leave it."

Everybody was surprised that the pink haired girl passed the level so easily. As a matter of fact she even scored the second highest, next to Sasori.

"Pinky can play," Pein smirked. "Don't judge a book by its cover, Hidan."

Sasori and his friends started devouring the pizza along with the cheeseburgers and pie that was on the table. Sakura sat silent, looking at the hungry people enjoying themselves with the meal.

"Do we have a salad, anyone?" Sasori asked, attacking Sakura one more time.

She simply smiled at him and reached for a pizza and started eating. Sasori couldn't help observing, but she seemed to not care about calories, carbohydrates and saturated fat tonight.

Sakura chugged the soda naturally, and helped herself with a second serving of pie. She hardly knew how to deal with the fact that Sasori wouldn't stop staring at her and what the reason behind it might be; if he was infatuated with her or if he disliked the fact that she proved him wrong and is waiting for the moment she would throw up all these food and he could say "I told you so".

She could only imagine however, that no matter what, that she drew his attention because there was something different about her that he hadn't seen in the past. She supposed that maybe it probably wouldn't hurt so much if she could let loose a little, since nobody here knew much of her anyways.

"That was good," Sakura declared herself satisfied. "I think I'm gonna skip cheer practice today."

Sasori just smiled.

She headed back to the couch and leaned her head back. The food made her feel comfortable enough that sleep was unbelievably coming at her. Slowly, her eyes shut.

* * *

"Haruno."

Sakura was woken up by Sasori. Her head felt heavy and her vision was blurred. Her body begged for more sleep but the other party kept calling her name.

"Haruno, we're going late for school," said Sasori impatiently.

She slowly took in his words and sat straight. "Shit," she groaned as she rubbed her eyes and looked around the place. There was nobody but them.

She looked at the guy sitting next to her. He was dressed and ready to go. "What time is it, Akasuna?"

"Seven o' five."

She had ten minutes to get ready. Her eyes landed on the only clothes she had. There was a huge visible stain on her wrinkled shirt. "Can I borrow a shirt?"

Sakura followed him to his room. He sat on the bed and pointed out to her a drawer presumably where his clothes were. She then pulled it open and took the shirt she liked the best.

"Take care of that shirt, I like it," he grumbled.

Noticing that he was still sitting there she headed to the bathroom to change. The moment she stepped out, he wrapped a jacket around her shoulders. She couldn't help but notice how his clothes smelled and felt so good, but there was one thing that troubled her.

"Akasuna, thanks." said she and unexpectedly gave him a hug.

He stood silent.

She pulled away and smiled. "But... Wearing your clothes will make everyone think that I've slept with you."

Sasori advanced closer and pushed her gently to the wall. He leveled his face with hers and smirked. Sakura tried her best to stay calm, but was inwardly freaking out from the lack of distance that they both shared.

"If that's the case," he murmured softly to her ear. "Why don't we just do it?"

Sneakily, she trailed her fingers up his arms and landed them on his shoulders. She then pushed him away arm distance and regained her composure.

"Don't push your luck," she chuckled. "You may be hot but you have a long ways to go, Akasuna."

This made his smirk widen and chuckle. "That means... I do have a chance?"

Sakura dropped her arms from his sides and walked ahead of him.

"If you make me fall for you, maybe."

* * *

Ahhhhhhhhhh I'm so glad to be able to upload this chapter, now I can start with the next! and w/ Mannequin too oh Gawd I'm so sorry guys T.T

something that would keep me going would be a review! lol :3 thanks in advance!

till next time~


	5. Chapter 5

I'm so sorry for deleting this chapter and re-uploading, but there were so many mistakes. This should be a better version of it. Ahaha *hysterical*

To make up for it, I'm about to upload the next chapter as well.

Thank you for reviewing. And I shall work on Mannequin again. These days have been very hectic for me and Mannequin is a very dragging story. I haven't really been inspired for that story lately : I want the ending part to be really good...

* * *

_I'm going to smile and make you think I'm happy,_

_I'm going to laugh, so you don't see me cry,_

_I'm going to let you go in style,_

_and even if it kills me- I'm going to smile._

* * *

**Play Along**

**Chapter 5**

Sasori observed the girl with petal hair scribble notes from time to time as Hayate-sensei declared the adjustments of the schedule of school activities and reminders regarding prom. She sighed in relief after hearing that cheer practice was moved the next day. He couldn't stop thinking of how attractive she looked in his Batman t-shirt despite how loose it was on her body. He was also pretty amused about her coming to school without wearing any make up at all.

This girl sitting in front of him was usually seductive by the way that she dressed, spoke and affiliated herself. She'd give you the impression that she's the type of girl that would let you have a one night stand with easily or was someone overexposed in the terms of sexual relationships, but this morning when he asked her if she wanted to hook up, she said...

_"If you make me fall for you.. maybe."_

He repeated her words in his head then chuckled quietly in his seat and concluded that things he had in thought about Haruno might not really be as they seem.

Ino was nowhere to be found during lunchtime, leaving Sakura in the girls' restroom to mend her appearance alone. After untangling her hair and washing her face, she walked out and decided to head to eat with Hinata and company. She smiled to find out that her friends had saved her usual seat . She then gave the necessary salutations to everybody. Lee and Tenten were sitting next to Hinata and Naruto. Naruto and Hinata were stuck by the hip as always, arms wrapped on each other and all, but it seemed a little peculiar to Sakura that Tenten was sitting closer than usual to Lee. The way that they were speaking had no hints of awkwardness, however, so she decided to shrug it off and not dive into conclusions.

"Do you guys know where Ino might be?"

"After science class," Hinata timidly raised her voice, "she told me that she was going to meet Shikamaru at the student council room to talk to him about prom."

Sakura nodded in acknowledgment and continued munching on the pastry on her hand. Hinata and Naruto went back to their own little world as she focused her eyes on Lee and Tenten, who were fiercely debating about something regarding track and field. Deeming that it was not one of her strong points, Sakura decided not to attempt a conversation and notice further surroundings instead. Everyone today seemed to be working in pairs; except for her of course. There she was, suffering alone, in her hand a disgusting piece of greasy garlic bread. This made her feel lonely. She stood up and excused herself.

"Nothing would be better right now than a cigarette," she thought, assuming that that stick of nicotine would help her banish all of her resentful thoughts and calm her down. She then rushed her way back to the main building and headed to the staircase.

Unbeknownst to Haruno, the rooftop was already occupied.

"Ouch, take it easy, Sasori-kun," Sachi moaned as his grip on her thigh grew a little too hard. He didn't seem to hear her and groped her even harder. The girl bit her lip and wrapped her arms on his waist as he nibbled on her neck.

In his mind, it wasn't Sachi he was kissing. It wasn't Sachi that he was holding. He didn't even know Sachi. Only one girl existed there, the only girl he wanted more than anything was no other than Haruno, but he couldn't have her, at least not just yet.

Their playtime was cut short by the loud heavy metal song that buzzed from Sasori's cellphone. He told his partner that he had to depart to see his friends. After a bit of whining, Sachi realized that there was no way that they could continue and picked up her clothing. Right before he left, Akasuna told her to wait five minutes before following down and make sure that nobody saw her. He then headed to the college building and texted Deidara that he was on his way.

"Excuse you!" Sakura roared at the rather-distressed-looking girl that was buttoning up her dress that intercepted her by the staircase on the way to the rooftop. She had hit her by the shoulder bone quite harshly. She shook her head and hurried to the top then lit up a cigarette.

"I have no more classes for today, bitches!," Hidan cheered after getting out of Anatomy class. He headed to the benches where Pein, Konan, Deidara and Sasori were waiting. Pein fished out his car keys from his pocket and turned to his girlfriend then after getting a nod from her, he invited everyone to some sushi and afterward the shooting range. Hidan, Kakuzu and Deidara took off and excitedly headed to the parking lot and before Sasori could follow, he realized that his car keys were nowhere to be found.

"It must have fallen somewhere, don't wait for me, I will just meet you guys there," he told Pein before he retraced his steps back to the roof.

* * *

_"Hey everyone, I heard that Sasuke-kun likes skinny girls with long hair!," Oichi proudly announced as she stood in the middle of the group of oncoming first years. The girls brushed their fingers through their hair to check its length. A girl named Aiko stood next to Oichi and raised a tiny finger._

_"I heard that he also likes cheerleaders," she said, proudly showing off her cheer uniform. All the others gasped and started talking about joining the squad._

_Her best friend, Ino, is already in the team so it would probably be easy for her to get in, Sakura imagined. She had never really put so much thought into cheerleading though. Did she really want to practice every week when she could use that time to study? What if there was a test the next day? Would she even be a good dancer, or would she just make a fool out of herself? Then again, if it was to win Sasuke's heart then she would do anything._

_Ino's attempts of forcing her to it every minute of every day since Sakura mentioned the idea ended up with her joining the squad. However, she told Ino that she will only do it for the rest of the school year._

_A semester had passed since she joined the team when she found out that Sasuke didn't really like cheerleaders and as a matter of fact he hated them. She immediately quit._

_However, at sophomore year, the year that came after Sasuke's departure, she tried out for the team again, and got accepted._

_Sakura still haven't changed her outlook towards cheerleading, it was never really her passion but there was something about doing something that Sasuke hates that gave her some sort of satisfaction._

_A lot has changed since then, she cared less about the things that she was worried about before. Grades, for one. It wasn't really because she was lazy or academically challenged, but to her, it just wasn't so important anymore. Besides, given the present circumstances, so many guys offer to help her with that kind of stuff. Furthermore, her reputation. She knows damn well that people at school thinks she's a slut. But she doesn't really mind, maybe she even likes it. That way, she doesn't have to pretend that she has a high self-esteem and dignity when she really doesn't. Then, there's her alcohol addiction. At first, she wouldn't even think of going out when it's late but now she parties almost every night. To her, alcohol was a rational response to her insanity. It made her forget, it made her feel better for a short, temporary time but it was better than nothing._

_At the back of her mind, if Sasuke ever heard about her, she kind of hopes that he realizes how much he broke her. Even if it was a way in which she had to deliberately destroy herself and sink deeper and deeper into a hole that she will not be able to get out off because maybe he'd turn around and save her. Despite him being the cause, he was also the solution._

* * *

"Not that the solution really matters anymore."

Haruno suddenly felt lightheaded from smoking out her third cigarette. As she strolled around the roof, she lit yet another. Apparently, the hopes of ridding herself of stress by the means of taking a drag wasn't working at the moment. She unexpectedly slipped on a patch of moss and fell on her knees. A sharp rock pierced her at the side of the joint and blood gushed out of her skin. A sharp pain stung her wound and she gave up her attempts to stand from the extent of the pain. Giving in to the pain, she has never felt so pathetic.

"Bloody... mother fucking bitch-ass hell!"

"I didn't know that you could curse smoother than Hidan," she was startled, but at the same time his presence relieved her, at least somebody has found her there.

She turned away to conceal her smile.

"Just like you don't know a lot of things about me."

Sakura, being the sourgraper that she was, put her guard up and played cool. However, she failed yet another attempt to stand and fell back on her bottom. Sasori approached and sat by her side with a smile.

"Let's skip."

Akasuna and Haruno conveniently spent the last two hours of the school day sitting alone at the rooftop. He noticed that she was gloomier than usual from her lack of playfulness and smart remarks so he didn't tease her and instead opened up in a conversation of most random things. Sasori discovered that she didn't like soda not because of the calories, but because it was fizzy. Sakura found out that he could play guitar, and they both learned that they shared the dislike of fireworks.

"Because they're ephemeral. Seems kind of hard to appreciate something like that," she sighed bitterly, as if talking about something more meaningful. "It makes me wish that it be there for longer, but it sucks to know that it just couldn't."

"Therefore it is not really beautiful," he added. "Just a poor, empty shell of a false piece of art."

"You know what I think is beautiful?," she said with a little more energy than before.

"Stars!"

"But stars disappear and worse, at the most unexpected times. They're never there as well when there is a storm."

"That's not true Akasuna. Stars, they are always going to be up there. For ever. They never disappear, even during a storm. You just don't always see them, because of the clouds."

"Why do they hide in the clouds? Why can't they shine bright enough through them?"

"You shouldn't demand the stars to do things that they can't."

The school bell rang, dismissing their thoughts and leaving their conversation alone. Akasuna offered to carry Haruno on his back and take her home. She gratefully accepted.

* * *

-The next day-

About a minute before the tardy bell rung as Sasori sat quietly on his assigned seat gazing at the morning sky, his attention was suddenly drawn to the front of the class by the sound of her voice. She was approaching her seat while having a laugh with Sanada. The latter gave her a hug and waved goodbye before walking out of the classroom. He found her next standing before him, greeting him good morning. His eyes focused on her bandaged knee, recalling what had happened to it yesterday.

"Oh," said she, "I had it looked at and as long as I don't touch it, it should be okay."

He acknowledged by giving her a slight nod, then brought his gaze up to what she was wearing. A red bow secured Sakura's long hair in a high pony. She was wearing white converse shoes, black knee socks, a red and white mini skirt that was cut out in 6 different pieces and a black and red stretchable fit long sleeve top that was cut short and showed her stomach. The school logo was visible on both articles. Today was the first time he saw her in her cheer uniform. in his opinion, she never failed to be enticing.

Haruno observed him check her out and was not sure if she should comment on it. When at last she decided to tease him just before the teacher came in, she very innocently said, "What are you looking at me like that for, Akasuna?,"

He then chuckled and leaned back on his chair. "Checking if there were any remnants of the pizza and soda."

Her eyes widened and her mouth formed into an "o". He could tell that she was worried by the way she placed her palms on her stomach to hide it. "ARE THERE?! CAN YOU TELL?!"

The redhead let out a charming smile before responding.

"No. Not at all."

* * *

During lunch, Deidara suggested to his best friend that they head for the gymnasium, where cheer practice was being held for the obvious reason that it would be an aesthetically pleasing sight for them. Although he was not quite sure about this good idea of his friend, he had not much of anything else to do (anyway) so they went.

They seated themselves at the back so that they wouldn't catch any unwanted attention from the coach and some of their loitering fan girls.

"Danna, this is a genius idea," Deidara cried. "Just look at them move! I'd say, compared to my old school, Konoha High's cheering squad looks better!"

Akasuna watched each and every one practice. Ino was focused on making sure that she was the main attraction, arranging the formations in a way that all eyes were on her while she danced. Sakura, on the other hand, was doing more of what the captain should – teaching specific moves, mostly the complicated ones, reviewing the chants and dividing them into groups to do stunts.

His reverie was disturbed by two girls who ignorantly sat right in front of them which totally blocked his vision. Deidara was about to bark but Sasori sealed his best friend's mouth with his right palm after hearing the said girls' conversation.

"Did you see what Haruno was wearing yesterday?," the one on the left said, waving her sandwich in the air.

"That slut?," The other girl scoffed and pointed her eyes over to the object of their conversation. "No, why would I care about her clothes, she wears almost none of them anyways!"

"But she was wearing a guy's shirt!"

"Who cares?!," she grumbled. "She sleeps around, I'm not surprised."

"The owner of the shirt is Sasori, I know because it's his favorite shirt! My friend said that she came to school with him too!"

Sasori kept his hand on Deidara's mouth and listened intently at the two girls' ranting. He thought it was rather amusing that their presence has not been revealed. The girls continued on with their accusations against the oblivious Haruno who was happily dancing.

"That doesn't make any sense at all, I thought that she's being all "rampage-whore" status being she's still gaga about her breakup with Sasuke-kun," the girl said but softened her tone at the last word.

"I know right, she wasn't really such a skank before when she was with Sasuke, she actually was more of a nerd!"

"Well, I can't blame her though, I mean," the girl on the right chomped her sandwich then continued, "I would totally forget my boyfriend for anybody in the Akatsuki club!"

"Just "Akatsuki"".

The two girls jumped from their seat after hearing his voice. He was now standing behind them, leaning over to meet their their eye level. Deidara stood by his side, a crooked smile on his face.

"Do you girls even have boyfriends to forget?," he teased then smiled.

The two girls swooned and blushed insanely. They instantly shook their heads sideways and repeated "no".

"Just as I thought," he said. The girls smiled at him and nervously attempted cute gestures. He looked at each of them slowly as their smiles widened.

"There is no way a guy would seriously want girls like you," he smirked. "Not even for playtime. You're not beautiful inside or out."

Their smiling expression suddenly turned into faces of embarrassment. They were speechless in place while Sasori stood up from leaning and walked away. Deidara gave them a last look before calling out and following behind his best friend.

Sakura heard the familiar voice and turned her head towards its source. After confirming it was Deidara's, she rushed to him and Sasori.

"Dei-kun, Akasuna," Sakura panted, catching her breath. The two men held their smiling faces and stopped walking.

"What's up? Are you okay, yeah?," Deidara asked in concern then placed a palm on her shoulder. Sasori's eyes instantly glared at the blonde's hand.

Haruno took a second to relax before standing up straight and nodding. "Let's walk to class together."

* * *

The Akatsuki got together at Sasori's apartment for a late-night snack. It was already two thirty in the morning and they all were out on his porch, grilling some burgers and steak. Consider him lucky, because Sasori did not have any close neighbors. All the other apartments surrounding his were vacant and the reason of that being was probably because of things like what he and his friends were doing now.

"Babe, grab me some soda, would you?," Pein nudged his girlfriend on the shoulder. Konan gave him a kiss and headed to the kitchen. Deidara and Sasori watched as she left before throwing teasing looks at their orange-haired leader and received a dirty finger in return.

"So what's the deal with the pinky? Hmm?" Deidara eyed his best friend as he slowly took a sip of his beer.

"What do you mean?"

The blond rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

Sasori's eyebrow raised slightly, but that was it. His expression kept straight.

Deidara looked him straight in the eye, trying to find the least bit of wavering emotion for the said girl. He continued his search as he kept talking. "Unn, Your usual expiration date with girls is one week. It's been a month with her."

"She's a hard one to crack," was the only thing the redhead said in a slightly impatient tone.

"Are you shitting me, hmm? She looks like an easy girl to me."

"Not really."

"Well, why don't you just go for her best friend?"

_No answer._

"You like her like her, don't you? You like Sakura!"

"Shut up. I just want playtime with her.

She seems fun."

* * *

R&R -A-


	6. Chapter 6

As promised, hope you guys like this chapter, there is a very good development with our love team! I would like to dedicate this chapter to all the guys that took care of the girls they like and not take advantage of them during their vulnerable times. Kudos to you, and you are very endangered species in this world.

And have you guys read the manga? I'm not going to say what happened just so I don't spoil anything... but it's super sad right?! Omg so many sad things have been happening... and where's Sasuke at?!

P.s. thank you for reviewing.

Anyways, leggo~!

* * *

_" & Even though she acts likes nothing's wrong,_

_Maybe she's just really good in lying."_

* * *

**Play Along**

**Chapter 6**

The day every high school student has been waiting for finally arrived – it was prom night!

Ino slept for exactly eight hours, had a granola bar for breakfast, went to her dermatologist to get a facial treatment then to the salon for a full body wax, then got her hair, nails and makeup done. She picked her dress up from the cleaners just in time to make any adjustments if necessary and called Shikamaru and reminded him twice about the corsage and the tickets once she was ready to leave.

Hinata's dress was designed by a famous foreign designer and was shipped just in time. Her family insisted that she wore some of the most expensive jewelry that they possessed. She wore the most elegant pair of shoes— custom made to match her dress. Her hair, by her request was blow dried and straightened by her trusted stylist. All necessary apparel for Hinata and her cousin Neji prom were provided by Hiashi, Hinata's dad. Being the head of their old-fashioned clan, he didn't let anybody from the Hyuuga family join a gathering without representing their high standards and wealth. Naruto came a little later than the appointed time, earning a stern look from Hiashi, but made up for it by offering Hinata a beautiful bouquet of daisies, white roses and citrus colored tulips. Naruto borrowed his father's yellow Camaro and left with a promise to Hinata's family that he will drive very carefully.

Deidara didn't like the fact that prom had to last until ten thirty. He was looking forward more to the after party, when it actually turned into _one_. He wasn't really planning to attend if it wasn't for his promise to Ino that they would get a picture taken together. He then convinced Sasori to come along since there would most likely be girls from other schools that they could probably invite to the after party if they were cool enough. So they slipped into some black converse, rushed to the mall, bought the first pair of black formal suits they found and went.

"Her dress is pretty," Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'll give her that."

She chowed down on the popcorn as she cranked the volume up. "All her friends are dying and she doesn't even know," she chuckled between munches. The killer was now about to kill the nominated queen right before prom royalty was crowned. She laughed at the irony of the scene.

Okay, maybe not _everyone_ in high school cared (about this day)...

"This is taking too long," she shook her head in frustration. "Psycho! Just stab her already!"

"Sakura honey, don't you have anything to do today?," her mom said as she barged into the room. Sakura was forced to press the "pause" button.

Her pink hair shook from side to side. "No, mom, not until later at least."

"Okay then, well your dad and I plan on going to grandma's so we will not be back until Sunday. There are leftovers in the fridge and I got you some candy. They're in the freezer. Please behave!"

"Okay, thanks mom," she groaned wearily before resuming the movie.

The main character had escaped from the killer's hands, was found by the police and reunited with her boyfriend. At the closing credits, Sakura let herself fall back on the bed, bouncing slightly. She looked at the ceiling and sighed.

She took the DVD case in her hands, held it in front of her face, read "Prom Night", then yawned.

"She didn't die in the end? Lame."

Haruno headed downstairs and noticed that her parents were already gone. She reached for the bag of chocolates in the freezer and poured herself a glass of Merlot before looking out the window. It was already dark outside.

"They're all probably dancing and shit by now."

She decided that a glass wasn't enough so she snatched the bottle and trudged up the stairs to her bathroom.

* * *

The Merlot was stronger than she thought. Sakura had to drag herself up from the tub and stumble to her room. Her face was bloody red and she could barely lift her eyes. A laugh escaped her lips. She realized that she will have to cover her face so she doesn't look like a joke tonight.

Sakura pulled the handle of her vanity drawer and revealed its contents. In it was makeup of many shades for all sorts of circumstances. She took in her hand a concealer wheel, primer, foundation and powder.

"Let the concealing commence!"

* * *

Hidan honked his car twice once he reached the Haruno's house. Sakura took a last glance of herself in her full body mirror to make last adjustments to her appearance. She wore a simple black body contouring tube dress and stilettos. She grabbed her pink fur coat then threw her stuff in a small red clutch purse.

"About damn time miss," Hidan whined as he stepped on the acceleration of his Ford S10. Sakura rolled her eyes and looked at anything but him.

"So, where's the party being held?," Sakura asked, breaking the silence.

"Pein and Konan's place."

* * *

Sakura didn't really expect Pein and Konan's place to be so... extravagant. How could two college students afford a five bedroom house with three stories and a pool? Not to mention the living room was huge! They had beer pong set up, a pool table, video games on the sixty five inch flat screen and a whole lot of food and booze.

Hidan left her and vanished as soon as they hit the front door so she had to look around for familiar faces. She noticed that most of the people that made it were seniors which made sense, since they were most likely the ones able to drive and stay out late. There were also people from the college building and other schools. She was greeted by some of the people and some guys asked her if she wanted a drink. Her face lit up when she thought she saw Hinata and Naruto. She verged upon them but retreated once she saw that they were kind of busy ...tied in a lip lock.

"Shit," she huffed and crossed her arms. Suddenly, a cold hand grabbed her shoulder from behind.

"You're Prom King?," she laughed at the sight of him. The crown rested on his messy red hair, the sash hanging from his shoulder, his loosened tie and his converse. _Hot mess,_ she thought, but she wouldn't admit.

"I didn't even know I was nominated," he spoke ever so casually. "You look nice."

She smiled and took a step closer. "Of course I do."

"May I get you a drink?"

"Yes," she nodded as she latched onto the king's arm. "Please. Oh, so is Ino Prom Queen?"

"Nope."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock and instantly felt remorse towards her best friend. Ino had prepared for this day since freshman year. "Who is it then?"

"Hinata."

* * *

Later on, she found Ino and Shikamaru coming through the door. Sakura gave the blonde a hug. Ino said she was glad to see her there and cried out how it was Shikamaru's fault that she didn't win the title, followed by pretty much everything that happened at prom. Shikamaru told her to stop blaming him for her loss and walked away towards Naruto.

"Um, Naruto is busy with Hinata right now," Sakura mentioned, earning a giggle from Ino. "If I were you I'd go to Kiba over there instead."

"Oh my gosh," Ino squeaked, "you saw them kissing."

Sakura let out a last laugh before nodding. Ino stomped her feet in excitement.

"They better use protection!"

They both laughed at Ino's statement as they headed to where Sakura was earlier. Ino greeted Sasori and took a seat next to Deidara.

It seemed like the more alcohol she infused with her system, the more she lost control of her mind and all that mattered to her was the beat of the music.

She and Ino danced, sang and rapped loudly to the upbeat song. They headed to the dance floor and put their hands up while they swayed their hips and did all sorts of things without giving a single care to what was going on around them.

Sasori and Deidara watched the ladies from afar and were later joined in the couch by Hidan and Pein. Their eyes shifted from Ino and Sakura, who both were pretty much touching each other in the dance floor and didn't seem to notice what they were doing.

"If you can't get Haruno," Deidara voiced, "I don't think Ino's such a bad choice, Hmm."

Sasori frowned at his best friend. "Over my dead body, Deidara."

"Why? She ain't ugly though! Unn."

"It would be like doing it with you, you fool. You look exactly like her."

Hidan and Pein laughed at his statement and agreed with the redhead.

Copying Deidara's tone of voice, Pein reiterated. "If you can't get Haruno," he turned over to the redhead, "...have her take some of the new stuff with us. That will be a sure win."

Hidan cheered with widened eyes. "Hey, Sasori! Dibs on the bitch once you're done with her!"

Pein stood up and squeezed Sasori's shoulder. "We'll get it started in the room, catch up with us with her, alright?"

* * *

Ino and Sakura got too tired from dancing their asses off. Ino told Sakura that she had to "tell Shikamaru something really important" then left her at their table alone with Sasori and other college people she didn't really know.

She picked out a cigarette from her purse and asked for a light. She leaned over Sasori to reach for the flame that was held up by the guy sitting next to him in the long couch. His eyes landed on the curves of her slim body, the arch of her back, her bare thighs and her skirt that rode up higher the more she leaned over. Once Haruno sat back down, she crossed her legs and looked at him mischievously, which made him wonder if she was seducing him on purpose.

After taking a whiff of her smoke she offered her own cigarette to Akasuna. He moved his head closer to the stick in between her fingers and drew in. She gently pulled the it out once he was done inhaling. Haruno giggled and scooted closer. Akasuna sat steady but wondered what the pinkette was going to do. Her arms landed on his shoulders and he was already going to dive in for a kiss when he felt the weight of his crown lifted from his head. Haruno snatched the diadem and went to the nearest mirror to try it on herself. Akasuna shook his head in amusement.

"I'm the king now," she teased when she saw his reflection appear behind hers. "Your kingdom belongs to me."

Sasori smiled, took her hand in his and pulled her away from the crowd.

"Follow me."

* * *

"So here's where you guys went," she voiced before walking into the dimly lit room.

Akasuna and Haruno sat on the floor to squeeze in the circle of people that consisted of Deidara, Pein, Konan, Hidan and three other girls that Sakura was not familiar with. They were in a room somewhere in the upstairs part of the house. In the middle of the circle sat bottles of blue and pink liquor and bar soda. The newcomers were given each a drink and were obliged to take them and so they did.

After sharing a few more shots, Pein pulled out a bag of what looked like Sweet Tart candies from his pocket. The crowd, except for Sakura and Sasori cheered at the sight and reached out their hands for one. They passed the bag around until everyone held one candy each in their hand.

"On three," Pein declared.

Everyone then counted to three and put the candies in their mouths. Sasori however, discreetly spit his out, wrapped it with some paper and shoved it in his pocket.

Sakura just realized that she was totally wrong about the round piece of hard candy in her mouth. It wasn't a Sweet Tart, but whatever it was it certainly wasn't ordinary candy. Her senses clouded, and at the same time accelerated intensely. She was starting to see things that she couldn't possibly see like floating white leaves and swirls of colorful lights, the sound of the music was amazing like it surrounded her and started to wonder, maybe everything was just a dream.

And all of a sudden she felt euphoric, like there was nothing at all in the world that was troubling her.

But more than anything else, she felt the biggest urge to –

"Haruno," the redhead murmured as he leaned in for a kiss. She moved closer until their lips finally touched. He gave her a gentle, closed-mouth kiss then pulled away. To Haruno, it tasted spicy and sweet and addicting. He held her close and whispered to her ear, "Give me some of that candy," before leaning back in. Haruno obliged by parting her lips and let his tongue search for the candy in her mouth. She let out a moan while slipping the sweet drug into his mouth. Once the candy was in, Sasori broke their kiss then disposed of it.

"Come on," he beckoned as he pulled her out of the house and into his car. She could barely open her eyes or walk straight so he had to hold her hand. He secured her seat belt before clicking on his own. He shook his head and started the engine.

"I'll be," she muttered under her breath,

"I'll be okay...

I'm with..."

She grabbed onto the seatbelt and leaned her head on it for support. Her chest rose up and down slowly before she continued her speech.

"I'm with... Akasuna."

It took a few seconds for him to take in what Haruno just said. She trusted him, he concluded.

The said man frowned before dashing out to the street. He blasted his stereo with played upbeat music so that he could focus with his driving considering the fact that he had a good amount of shots and the drug affected him a bit as well.

Akasuna reached her apartment safely and escorted her to the door. After waiting for her to find her keys, Haruno invited him to come inside. He was going to refuse on the offer before the door swung open revealing a steep staircase which he presumed she probably would have trouble climbing. Haruno's knees gave out and she would have fallen face down on the hardwood floor if it wasn't because he caught her in his arms just in time.

Sakura managed a "thank you", and pointed to the direction of her room. Sasori shook his head and started wondering, why was he even doing _this_?

* * *

He gently laid her down on her bed and tried to untangle the girl's arms from his neck but she wouldn't let go. She even held him closer and put a leg around his waist. He sighed.

Sasori got distracted from coming into sight of her room. He noted the trophies and medals that sat on top of a shelf, a crown and a sash inscribed with "Homecoming Princess", pictures of her friends that hung on her wall, neatly organized books and a laptop on a tiny white desk and movies scattered on the floor along with a game console and controllers. Her night light was clipped on her bed's headboard, so he decided to crawl up and reach to turn it on but was interrupted midway when Sakura leaned up to reach his lips. Successfully capturing them, she gently bit on his lower lip and forced it open. He melted in her arms and let himself be interred completely on top of her and returned the kiss. Her moans were high and raspy – music to his ears. His hand traveled slowly down her waist down her smooth leg then back up her thigh, under her skirt. Right when grasped her side and felt her underwear he sat straight up and rolled to the edge of the bed with a puzzled look in his eyes.

There he was on top of Haruno that was totally vulnerable and not to mention willing, but why can't he get himself to have playtime with her? Why doesn't it feel right... despite being given the perfect time and place? Why did it feel _different_? Was he too drunk or high?

Whatever it was, he couldn't do it. It was too confusing.

Sasori made sure that her front door was locked before taking off and heading home.

* * *

-Monday-

"Sanada-kun," Sakura said while flashing a smile, "thank you for the ride."

"No problem," he said, shuffling closer to the pinkette. She immediately turned her body, waved and walked away.

All of a sudden, Sakura was snatched by her best friend and was dragged inside the girls restroom. The bang of its heavy door was followed by a loud scream.

"Oh my God!," Ino continued hyperventilating, "I made out Shikamaru after the party! I haven't told anybody, but I need to tell you, what should I do what should I do what should I –"

"Shut up!," Sakura shushed, "the whole school will find out if you keep screaming it out like that!"

The blonde zipped her lips but then tears started streaming down her eyes. Her best friend gave her a hug and held her by the shoulders.

"Do you like him?"

Ino nodded, then shook her head sideways, then nodded again.

"You're not sure?!," Sakura groaned. "Well does he like you at least?"

"I don't know, I don't know!"

"Well, did you like it?"

"Like what?"

"What happened."

"Well, yeah, I mean," her lips formed a slight curve while she twirled her hair. "It was pretty good."

"Then there's nothing to worry about," Sakura reassured.

Ino's eyes widened in anxiety. "Y-you really think so?!"

"Yeah," Sakura sighed, "as long as you won't regret it, you should be fine."

Ino then walked up to a sink and wiped her face in front of the mirror. She smiled at Sakura from the reflection. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

The sound of the door closing gave Sakura some sort of relief. Now it was her turn to sort things out about herself.

"_What did I do at the party?_

_I vaguely recall some things..._

_Let's see._

_I drank with Sasori, I danced with Ino, then I shared a smoke with Sasori, then I took his crown..._

_I woke up in my bed the next morning, _

_I'm sure Sasori took me home, because..._

_Why do I know he took me home?_

_Because..."_

It has been a while since this amount of heat rushed to her cheeks. She was thankful that nobody was around. She touched her lips with her two tallest fingers and slapped herself gently.

"_Did we kiss?!"_

* * *

Deidara and Sasori started walking towards their classrooms ten minutes before the first bell. They walked along the pathway by the football field next to the college building.

"So did you get any luck on Saturday, unn?," the blonde said after sipping on his iced coffee.

Sasori ignored the question but glazed an annoyed look on his face, earning a laugh from Deidara.

"You know, Sakura isn't really a slut."

Sasori tried his best to look uninterested. Deidara scoffed.

"She used to date this guy, "Sasuke" I think his name was. He coldly ended things with her and left without telling anybody. Before all that though, Sakura was more of a teacher's pet kind of girl. Hard to believe but she used to be in honors, and had high grades... and wore more clothes."

Deidara took another sip and glanced at Sasori.

"She haven't had sex with anyone but Sasuke, she just uses the guys that obviously want to get with her. So be careful, alright?"

The blonde's last statement made him stop to think. Sasori raised an eyebrow and turned his head to his best friend. "How do you even know this all of a sudden?"

Deidara pouted his lips and made out a girly voice while shaking his hands in the air. "Twiiiiiiins"

Laughing off the joke, he gave a last nod and headed out. Sasori reached out for a fist bump before going inside his slammed his backpack on the table sloppily and leaned back on his seat. He recalled Deidara's words five minutes ago.

"_She just uses the guys that obviously want to get with her. So be careful, alright?"_

He smiled.

"There is nothing to be careful about Deidara, don't you worry."

* * *

Wadapoku Warning: cigarette smoking, alcohol and drugs are dangerous to your health.

R&R please :3


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry for the long wait guys :( Been kinda busy and having tons of problems as usual. FML. I just want to die. But not yet I should probably finish my stories first for your sakes..lol

But I hope this chapter could make it up to you somehow... Er.. :poop:

* * *

_"I just want it to be okay again_

_Is what they always say._

_Well tell me something,_

_What if I don't remember anymore_

_how it felt to be okay?"_

* * *

**Play Along**

**Chapter 7**

By her request, Akasuna went right up to the roof after the lunch bell just to discover that she wasn't there.

It has been eight minutes since then.

"What took you so long, Haruno?"

"Sorry," she stepped up to him and forced a grin, "I had to go to the restroom with Ino."

"So," he impatiently groaned. "What now?"

Haruno came at him slowly. "I need to..."

And somewhat like it was on purpose, their lips met. It happened so naturally – they weren't so surprised. Sasori ran his fingers through her long hair down to her neck and down her back and deepened their kiss.

Sasori tore away from the girl and stepped back before he totally immersed into her. He shook his head and sighed.

"_What was I thinking?"_

Haruno was confused at his withdrawal but restrained herself from showing it. She merely pouted and looked at the ground. They were quiet for a while before Sasori decided to speak up.

"What was that about, Haruno?"

Sakura slowly tilted her head back up with an eyebrow raised. "Did you... kiss me at the party?"

The silence returned. Not one of them moved before he let out a sigh.

"No," he grumbled and turned his head to the side. "Why would I do that?"

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make out what he just said. She wasn't sure if it was pain, or relief. The tension of the moment didn't let her ponder anything else.

"What do you mean by that?"

Sasori looked her in the eye and hesitated, he shoved his hands in the pocket of his loose hoodie and balled them into fists. Sakura patiently waited for his answer.

"I don't go for girls_ like you_."

Her defense mechanism impelled her to walk away.

"Sure," she stopped and exhaled before the entrance of the descending stairs, and with that she left.

* * *

According to Sasori, there were two types of people. The first kind were the ones that didn't care and never really have any commitment whatsoever in terms of relationships. They just like it that way, and are against pushing for anything more than messing around. They're the people that don't like to engage themselves into something emotional that they could lose and are totally happy with spreading themselves around or being with somebody who has no intentions of staying. Said people often date several people that could be aware or unaware of each other.

The second kind were the ones who did "care". These folks, normally young and innocent imagine relationships as a fairy tale romance which resembled the movies. They expect happy endings, when in reality there were no such thing. They believe strongly in faith and a perfect unwavering commitment wherein the two individuals would always love each other for all eternity. Those people to Sasori were foolish. Those people were not to be messed with.

And that was his rule.

At first, he convinced himself that the reasons why he didn't let Sakura take the drug at the party was because he wanted to protect her from Hidan's intentions, he wanted her for himself and that if she got too high then it wouldn't be as much fun as when she is at least a little sober.

But when he got the chance to be alone with her, he stopped nonetheless. Not to mention her kiss felt a lot different than any other he had.

In all honesty, Sasori was pretty confused about what he was doing the whole time that night, but now, he had figured it all out.

_Sakura fell into category two. _

Despite her front, he knew. He did not want to be involved in such a dragging, childish foolishness called love. If he went for her that night, it would have caused him a lot of problems.

* * *

Sakura didn't know what she should feel at the moment. Her ego was bruised very badly from the fact that Sasori had pretty much turned her down. It wasn't anything like a heart break though. She didn't really know Akasuna yet to feel so attached. However, after so many years, this was the first time she had kissed someone and got refused.

Then there was confusion. She was almost sure that he kissed her, but the way he coldly said he didn't must have been true. She tried not to dwell in the thought.

She also felt relieved that she didn't do anything stupid because if nothing happened between her and Akasuna, then her life goes on and she can keep playing along with her "toys".

* * *

Weeks have passed since Sakura and Sasori have actually spoken. Their lives continued awkwardly on as mere classmates, although not one of them has been rude to the other. Once in a while they would have some small talk, and greet each other good morning, or give comments about the weather but that's about it. Both civil yet indifferent.

Sakura went to parties even more often. What used to be every weekend became every other day. She would go out with Ino and Shikamaru to college frat parties. In one of those parties, they were asked to model for a student majoring in photography and accepted. Their photo shoot became a huge success and they automatically became even more popular all around their school and the colleges all over town.

Time and again, Haruno and Akasuna noticed each other walk down the halls alongside somebody of the opposite sex before class or during lunch.

Akasuna was quite absolved of the fact that Haruno easily found herself new company. This somehow gave him some assurance that she was not going to bring him any problems. However, he could not resist to criticize her escorts. They all seemed to tick him off for some reason. Maybe because they were too hideous, or because he considered them as losers, or maybe because he wished that he didn't reject her therefore he would be in their place, enjoying her instead.

Just until now, Sakura had never realized that Akasuna might just be like her – a devilish, charming player. However, if he was, why didn't he go for her? Was it because she was too disgusting? Was it because he thought she had been with a lot of guys?

Either way she could care less. What's there to analyze when she was coldly rejected. She will not commit the same mistake twice. Besides, guys were all the same. They were all just change their damned underdeveloped minds. She couldn't beat him up for that anyways since she had been hanging out with Sanada ever since winter season has approached. He had been picking her up and taking her home every time she asked him to. She also had a lot of things to do. The big game was coming and they had been practicing their cheer routine tediously.

She smiles at him, he smiles at her in the school hallways; while they both held on to someone else.

* * *

**-The Day of Big Game-**

As expected, Otogakure High School was a very close contender to Konoha's basketball team. They game was tight throughout the five lead changes and two ties before halftime. Naruto scored the most so far, 19 out of 41. The opponent's score was currently 44 with their top player, none other than former Konoha High's own MVP, Uchiha Sasuke scoring 21.

The moment for the halftime presentation came and it was all up to the KH Cheerleading squad's turn to raise the team spirits. However, for Sakura it was a little harder to even raise her own.

Sasuke was sitting on the front bench, watching her dance at the middle of the gym. A girl sat right next to him. She was a cheerleader as well. She had nerdy glasses and shaggy red hair. The said girl leaned on his shoulder and he calmly wrapped an arm around her. Sakura avoided his gaze and held up her fake smile, forcing her body to move and continue dancing. She tried her best to endure until the very last sway then immediately walked out of the double doors of the gym.

"Sakura," Ino called following behind. "Sakura wait up!"

No words came out of Sakura's mouth yet she turned to the blonde anyways.

"Hey, I know why you came out here. I don't know what to say," Ino bit her lip and forced out a grin. "Just think about the bright side, Sasuke's new girlfriend is so fugly! A-and he probably regrets leaving you!"

Sakura's lip pulled to the side. "You don't have to comfort me, Ino. Go back inside, I'm fine."

Ino stood there, uncertain. After pondering for a few seconds she gave her a concerned look and proceeded inside.

Sakura leaned on the nearest wall which happened to be the one by the college building and looked around. The place looked deserted and empty. She unzipped her purse and pulled out a cigarette. She shoved the stick in between her lips, flicked the lighter on and sucked in a whole lot of smoke, burning out the cigarette almost halfway through.

"Can I have some?," a voice unexpectedly came from behind her, which made her turn her head and look.

From the opposite corner leaned Sasori. She didn't know if he had been there and was confused why she hadn't noticed.

Haruno kept silent.

"I saw everything."

"Are you here to laugh at me?", she spat impatiently. Her eyebrows were furrowed now and her knuckles turned white from digging her nails into her skin. "I'm fine!"

Now it was his turn to be quiet. He did not move one bit.

"Besides, that girl, I'm certain she will be hurt by him in the end too.

He's probably going to leave her like he did to me.

Just wait till he gets tired of her."

Silence enveloped them and a cold breeze blew, causing her to shudder. Akasuna stripped off his jacket and wrapped the clothing around her shivering shoulders.

He flashed a casual smirk. "Don't look so miserable then."

"Who say's I'm miserable?! I'm fine!" Sakura stepped back and growled. She turned away and walked back towards the double doors. "Leave me alone."

She really tried to convince herself that she was okay, but deep inside she thought, "Who am I fooling?", she doesn't even remember when she last was really okay. She doesn't even remember anymore when there was a time that she didn't have to pretend or force a smile, or when there was no sign of bitterness in her heart. All that she ever was since she met Sasuke was anything but fine, anything but okay.

* * *

"_I'll help you find a way out of this, Sasuke-kun," Sakura purred as she hugged her boyfriend from behind. It was an hour before midnight, they were sitting on his bed while playing a movie. Sasuke's parents were at a business trip and nobody else was in the Uchiha Mansion but them. _

_He met her gaze and flashed a smirk. "And what is your plan, Sakura?"_

"_I don't know," she bit her lip as she positioned herself beside him. "Rich people do have a lot of rules! I don't know much of them..."_

_The Uchiha frowned and set his gaze downwards. "It's all my stupid brother's fault, now I gotta clean up after his mess." _

_Sakura cheerfully gave him a hug. "I know, I understand... But, your brother fell in love, he has a family now."_

_He gave her an annoyed look and clicked his tongue then forced a smile. "Let's make a family of our own too, what do you say?"_

_Her cheeks burned as they turned blood red. A lump formed in her throat and it took her a minute to respond. "O-oh okay, S-Sasuke-kun!"_

_Soon afterward she found herself pinned down by him while he kissed her neck. He nibbled on her earlobe before whispering, "Let's start right now."_

She wished she never met Sasuke, or at least never fell in love with him. Because if she didn't then she wouldn't have had to believe in his empty words, change herself, feel so insecure in her skin. She wouldn't have been led on, wouldn't have been taken advantage of and she didn't have to cry and feel so worthless in the end.

If only she knew better, if only she knew then what she knows now. All that comes into her mind when she sees him are regrets.

And the hardest part about regret is that it won't let her forgive herself. So she threw herself carelessly at anything that can make her forget.

And this is how it all turned out to be.

* * *

The basketball league ended with Otogakure winning the championship. They ended the game with the score of 89-92. Sasuke scored a total of 47 points which mostly were from free throws and three-pointers. His finesse made the other players step up the game. Their newest members were pretty tall and jumped high as well. Oto team also used their height and speed to stay in the lead and had a strong defense at the same time.

Ino had been texting all the time since the beginning of the weekend. She grew even closer with Deidara after the whole basketball league since her schedule allowed her more leisure. She even slept over at Deidara's once. Nothing to worry though, she said nothing at all sexual happened between them. Sakura had nothing against Deidara, so she didn't mind Ino hanging out with him. Maybe it was also because Ino found in him a sibling that she never had and always wanted. She pretty much grew up with Sakura as her closest companion and never really had the chance to understand the nature of boys since her other childhood friends Chouji and Shikamaru were nice but never so only thing that ticked off Sakura at the moment about Ino being with Deidara was that she wouldn't stop tapping on her goddamn iPhone to pay attention to her best friend instead!

"Ino-pig!," she stomped her foot in frustration but bitterly forced a smile, "I'm asking you a question."

The blonde irritably shut off her phone and shoved it in her pocket. "What is it, billboard brow?!"

"Do I really need to go to this orientation thing with you?"

Ino's face lit up at her words and flashed a smile. "Yes," she cheered. "It's actually not an orientation it's more of a show! Only college students can go but Deidara-twin hooked us up!"

Sakura rolled her eyes at this and made a bored expression. Ino grabbed her best friend's hand and latched on to her arm before dragging her towards the college building. "Hurry, we're late!"

* * *

Ino dragged Sakura along while she ran across the long halls of the buildings as she searched for the certain room where they were supposed to meet Deidara. Sakura was starting to hate her bestfriend for dragging her along in between classes to go to the college building for an extra credit event when she could just use that time for smoking a cigarette and being herself and sulk alone at the rooftop.

"Ah, there you are!", Ino hollered at her non-biological twin. At the girls' surprise, Deidara wasn't waiting alone. There stood along with him some familiar faces from before. Pein and Konan waved from the back of the crowd. Hidan grinned widely. Sasori just looked away. He was accompanied by a girl who introduced herself as Naoki.

Sakura and Ino flashed her a big, fake smile and once all the formalities were done, they proceeded to the event.

"Art for all sake is in the eye of the beholder", they say, but to Sakura everything was so confusing. The gallery was inconveniently filled with articles that occupied too much space, leaving people so little room to walk. She continued to try to understand the pieces that were on display.

At some point there was a path in the gallery in which you could only walk in four in a row. Some sort of concept the artist wanted to establish. Ino and Sakura were walking along with Deidara and Sasori and Naoki were close behind them. They were already next in line and the organizer was calling for the next batch of people. Their group stood in realization that they were an odd number.

"It's alright, I'll go," Sakura volunteered, cutting herself off from the crowd and prepared to go.

Sasori spoke for the first time. "No, you go with them. I'll leave."

Just before he was about to step out of the line she held him in place by the arm and smiled.

"Trust me, It's okay. Besides, I'm a little tired. This will save me the trouble of walking."

Everybody stood as Haruno graciously walked away from the line and headed to the exit. Sasori's eyes never left her figure until she disappeared.

* * *

The room beside the gallery showcased a shiny grand piano. It was unlocked and empty. She let out a heavy sigh and approached the chair.

After lifting the wooden lid, she raised her index finger and pushed a key downwards. She knew better than this, yet stubbornly raised her other index finger then did the same, meaninglessly playing a horrible, unmelodious tune.

Her favorite key was the highest note at the very right. It was the key that needed much effort to make a sound. To her, it was like a high pitched scream coming from the deepest bowels of her heart. Laughing at the thought, she rapidly tapped on the key and let her thoughts wander off.

Unbeknownst to the pink haired girl, she hasn't been randomly pounding onto one key anymore. Slowly and eventually, she became aware that she was now playing a familiar tune she remembered as she played. Her fingers were gracefully moving around the piano, like they had a mind, a memory of their own.

"Such a sad tune. But you play beautifully."

Her reverie was cut short. There was somebody else in the room. She looked up to meet the gaze of the owner's voice. It was Sasori, he followed her there and he was alone. Sakura wanted to fulfill her curiosity by asking where Naoki went but decided not to bother.

She forced a smile bitterly. And pulled the wooden lid back down.

"Thanks. Took me a lot of effort to get better at something that never interested me."

"Then why do you do it?"

"This was one of the things I did to meet Sasuke's high standards." She chuckled, then took a few steps away from the instrument.

"He's the reason why you're like this towards guys?"

Sakura scoffed, turned away from him and headed to the glass window at the farthest end of the room.

"Guys are all perverts that want to get in my pants. _That'_s why I am like that to them."

"Ouch," Sasori charmingly remarked, showing much offense taken and earning a chuckle from Haruno.

"Heh," Sakura shook her head. "You're different."

"Not really," he muttered. "I wanna get in your pants too." He sounded like he was teasing her.

A laugh escaped her lips. "But you are different."

"How so?"

"You fascinate me. Just now, you're honest and blunt... Makes me feel like I could be the same, and not hold back. Also, you genuinely rejected me which is something that is ...not very common..," Sakura realized that she had said more than she wanted to and bit her tongue.

He stood next to her, back against the wall, a smile on his face that was mostly hidden by the darkness. Only his eyes vibrantly shone under the moonlight. Inevitably comparing, Sakura found his warm angelic amber more radiant and meaningful than Sasuke's plain and inexplicable pools.

The sound of his voice woke her from her daydream, overwhelmed by her surprise she distressedly bit her lip and shook her head.

"Well, since we're spilling beans," a silhouette of his smirk was seen,

"I think I should tell you something as well."

* * *

Sasori knelt down.

"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.

Oh I would do anything for you, would you, Marry me?"*pulls out a ring*

(Oh, I wish that happened to me)

Lol that got you going, didn't it? XD Sorry but this is not part of the story. This is just me fantasizing about a fictional character (A very hot fictional character) proposing marriage to me. I even used a line from one of the best leading male charcters in literature, Mr. Darcy. kekekeke -3-

Anyways, I just finished my chapter,

and I almost went crazy,

but here I published,

so Review maybe?

:3


End file.
